Rebounds

Assists

Turnovers

Pts off Turnovers

2nd Chance Pts

Pts in the Paint

Fastbreak Pts

Bench Pts

WENHAM, Mass. – Senior Jaylen LeRoy (Manchester, N.H.) knocked down five three-pointers and scored a team-high 31 points to lead Plymouth State University to a 99-90 win over Gordon College in a non-conference men's basketball game at the Bennett Center on Saturday afternoon.

PSU came out hot, knocking down five of its first six shots, to grab a lead that would not be relinquished. LeRoy scored ten points in the first half and the Panthers led by as many as 18 on the way to a 46-39 advantage at the break. The Fighting Scots trimmed the lead to three points early in the second half, but LeRoy and sophomore Dante Rivera (Methuen, Mass.) got hot from downtown to retain the lead and Gordon wouldn't get closer than seven points the rest of the way. Plymouth State shot a season-high 55.9% from the field and knocked down 12-of-20 (60%) three-point attempts.

Plymouth State improves to 5-4 to close out the fall semester, while Gordon drops its second straight to sit a 5-4 as well.

The Basics:

Plymouth State 99, Gordon 90

Plymouth State (5-4)

Gordon (5-4)

How it Happened.

In a sign of things to come, Plymouth State hit five of its first six shots from the floor to grab an 11-4 lead after the first 3:39.

After Gordon cut the margin to 15-10, PSU used an 8-0 spurt to lead 23-10 with 12:34 left in the half.

The advantage ballooned to game-high 18 points, 33-15, on a Rivera jumper with seven minutes before the intermission and Plymouth State still led comfortably, 40-24, four minutes later.

The hosts used a 9-0 run to trim the margin to 40-33 with and the teams traded baskets over the final two minutes as PSU went into the break with a 46-39 lead.

Gordon cut the lead to three, 52-49, four minutes into the second half, but the Panthers recovered and Rivera's layup pushed the advantage back to double-digits, 66-55, with 12:31 to play.

Rivera hit from beyond the arc to make it 80-65 with 8:26 to go, but Gordon used a 13-5 surge over the next four minutes to cut the lead to seven.

LeRoy hit from long range to stop the run and PSU maintained at least a nine-point advantage the rest of the way.

Inside the Numbers:

LeRoy's 31 points were the most since a 34-point outburst in a win over Keene State on Feb. 14, 2018. He finished 8-of-15 from the floor, 5-of-8 from distance and sank 10-of-11 from the charity stripe.

Rivera added 27 points on 11-of-14 shooting and connected on 4-of-6 from beyond the arc, to go along with eight assists and five steals.

The team's 99 points were the most since PSU's 102-86 win over Southern Maine in last year's regular season finale on Feb. 13.

Straight From the Coach's Mouth:

"I was really proud of the way our kids competed for 40 minutes against a strong Gordon team," said head coach Andrew Novick. "Hopefully we can take a lot of lessons from that game when we return from break."

Up Next:

Plymouth State will enjoy some time off before heading back into Little East Conference play to open the 2020 portion of its schedule, traveling to WestConn on Jan. 4.